Cigarette packages



United States Patent CIGARETTE PACKAGES Leon S. Seidler, Chicago, Ill.

Application October 8, 1958, Serial No. 766,057

6 Claims. (Cl. 206-415) This invention relates to a cigarette package and more particularly to one in which each of the cigarettes in the package may, if desired, be cut into two cigarettes.

Cigarettes as now packaged have generally been of two sizes, regular and so-called king size. There has always been considerable demand for a very short smoke, shorter than the usual regular size and an extra long smoke, longer perhaps than the king size, but the multiplicity of brands, sizes, with and without filters and the normal lack of required storage and display space has militated against manufacturing and merchandizing further additional sizes.

The principal object of my invention is to produce a. package of cigarettes, provided with assembled cutting means, in which the cigarettes are regular size, king size or are longer than king size but each of which may be cut into two parts if so desired, thus providing in the same package a number of longer smokes or twice the number of shorter smokes at the will and pleasure of the smoker.

My invention consists of a package of cigarettes which has an inner wrapper, an outer wrapper and positioned cutting means, preferably a cutting thread which may be impregnated with or coated with a fine abrasive, transversely encircling the inner wrapper and the enclosed cigarettes. The outer wrapper has a transverse slit on its face or back through which the ends of the cutting thread extends. These ends may or may not be tied in a knot. The slit and the thread are parallel to the ends of the package and register with each other. The inner wrapper may or may not be perforated or have a series of indentations along the path of the thread. The outer wrapper also has a transverse line of perforations completely encircling the package, parallel to the slit, and positioned between the slit and one end of the package.

Further objects of the invention will hereinafter appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment illustrative of the invention and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front and side view in perspective, partly broken away showing inner and outer wrapper and cutting thread.

Fig. 2 is a view of the outer wrapper showing guide perforations and cord slit.

Fig. 3 is a view of the inner wrapper before wrapping showing a possible line of perforations registering with the cutting means.

Referring to the drawings, the package therein shown, as illustrative of one embodiment of my invention, comprises a package having an outer wrapper 30 with a face 31, one side 32, a back 33 and the other side 34., The top end 35 and the bottom end 36 are folded on one or. both ends in the conventional manner. The face 31 has a transverse slit 37, parallel to the top end 35 and the bottom end 36 and positioned substantially half way between them. The outer wrapper has a contiunous transverse line of perforations on face 31, side 32, back 33 and side 34. This line of perforations is positioned from the slit a suflicient distance to allow the folding of a new end similar to the original end after the top portion of the outside wrapper has been removed along the perforated line 50.

Within the outer wrapper 30 is an inner wrapper 20 having a face 21, one side 22, a back 23 and another side 24 with a top 25 and a bottom 26. It likewise is folded in at the ends similar to the folds 51 of the outside wrapper. It may or may not have a transverse line of perforations 27 which register with cutting means 40.

Between the inner wrapper 20 and the outer wrapper 30 there is positioned a cutting thread 40, the ends of which protrude through the slit 37; or the thread 40 may be tied in a knot 41 with the ends 42 of the knot protruding through the slit 37. The thread may, if desired, be positioned directly on the cigarettes with a second registering slit in the inner wrapper.

Within the inner wrapper are whole cigarettes 11 placed longitudinally.

In operation, the package may be used in the conventional manner without using the cutting means in any way. This provides a specified number of cigarettes 11, preferably extra long for those wishing this type of smoke.

However, for those wishing the extra short economical smoke, the package is held in the palm of one hand with the slit side outward. By oscillating the knot 41 from side to side within the slit 37 and gently drawing it away from the package at the same time, the longer cigarettes 11 and the inner wrapper 20 are cut into two parts resulting in the smaller cigarettes 12 and 13. When the thread 40 is completely withdrawn through the slit 37, it?

is discarded.

After the top portion of all the severed cigarettes have been used or removed, the top half of the severed inner wrapper is also removed, the top portion of the outer wrapper is then removed by tearing along the line of per' forations 50 and a new end may be fashioned on the outer wrapper by refolding as at 51.

This procedure may be used with a full package of long cigarettes or a partial package of long cigarettes.

While the preferred embodiment of my invention has been described in detail, it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the particular construction set forth, since various changes in the form, material, proportions and arrangement of parts and in the detail of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, or destroying any .of the advantages contained in the same, heretofore described and defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A package of cigarettes comprising a multiplicity of cigarettes,'an inner wrapper, an outer wrapper and a transverse encircling cutting thread, said outer wrapper having a transverse slit on one face, said slit being parallel to the ends of said package, said cutting thread encircling said inner wrapper and said enclosed cigarettes and registering with said slit, said thread being positioned between said inner and outer wrappers, the ends of said thread extending through said slit.

2. Claim 1, wherein said outer wrapper has at least one transverse line of perforations encircling said wrapper, said line being parallel to and spaced from said slit.

3. Claim 1, wherein said inner wrapper has a continuous transverse line of perforations completely encircling said wrapper and registering with said cutting thread.

4. A package of cigarettes comprising a multiplicity of cigarettes having inner and outer wrappers and flexible transverse cutting means, said outer wrapper having a slit on one face, said slit being parallel to the ends of said package, and spaced between them, said cutting means encircling said enclosed cigarettes and said inner wrapper and registering with said slit.

5. A wrapper enclosure having an inner and outer 3 Wrapper enclosing a multiplicity of cigarettes positioned longitudinally within said inner enclosure, said inner enclosure being encircled with a flexible transverse cutting thread positioned between the ends of said enclosure, said cutting means being adapted to cut said cigarettes into two parts, said inner wrapper and cutting means being positioned within said outer wrapper, said outer wrapper having a transverse slit on one of its sides, said slit regis-' tering with said cutting means, said outer wrapper having one continuous transverse line of perforations on face, sides and back, positioned between said slit and one end of said enclosure, said line being adapted to provide a guide line for tearing ofr the excess portion of said outer wrapper and to delineate the folds for a new end for said enclosure.

6. Acigarette package comprising a multiplicity of cigarettes, said cigarettes being positioned longitudinally within a flexible enclosure having an inner and outer wrapper, said inner wrapper being provided with flexible disposable transverse encircling cutting means positioned between the ends of said wrapper and adapted to cut said cigarettes and said inner wrapper into two parts, said inner wrapper and cutting means being positioned within an outer wrapper, said outer wrapper having a transverse slit on one face positioned between the two ends of said outer wrapper parallel to said ends, said transverse cut- 10 ting means registering with said transverse slit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,085,062 Allen June 29, 1937 2,230,625 Naugle Feb. 4, 1941 2,447,096 Schneider Aug. 17, 1948 

